Strain
by booksindalibrary
Summary: Yuna began to remember more and more until she knew it all - the strain of the memories was something she had to hide.


When Yuna brushed mister's hand, the sound of her screaming followed.

It's not like she was _actually_ screaming, or even that he'd done anything other than shift away at her touch, like he always did; no, it wasn't as if she'd ever been frightened in his presence. He was excruciatingly polite, to the point where she doubted he paid attention to the rest of them. Even when the rest wondered if he actually cared, when he came across as being so _cold_ to the rest of them, he'd do something to ease their doubt. A smile, or a considerate action.

She hated how she screamed, she discovered. Shrill and high-pitched, breaking off into a soft keening sound. For a moment Yuna forgot where she was - if she was even _in_ a place.

She quickly denied hearing anything to herself. A trick of her ears, perhaps; that's all it was. And that's how she nearly convinced herself she heard nothing in the span of a few seconds.

Even so, with Tao and Takeo nearby, and the chairman away in his office, Rai watching them all affectionately, she _heard_ it.

Shinwoo caught the stiffening of her body, leaning forward, concerned. Ikhan's gaze snapped to her, and Suyi placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yuna?"

"Yeah?" As soon as she spoke the screaming halted. The rest of the group relaxed as Yuna seemed to perk up again.

"You just looked a little tense, is all," Shinwoo said easily.

"Sorry for worrying you," Yuna replied sheepishly.

They resumed their game.

~o0o~

The next time it happened, Yuna was reaching for snacks the same time as mister. Her fingers touched the back of his hand - a thrill of excitement raced down her spine - but he moved immediately away. She froze when she heard the screaming again, and this time it was accompanied by images. A flash of red eyes, and she was sitting with her back to the wall, legs folded up. Two men were in front of her, one crouching-

 _Mister?_

"Yuna?!" Shinwoo grabbed her by the shoulders, everyone looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine," she said after a beat. "Just felt a little faint..."

"You should go home and rest," the chairman told her, to which she easily agreed.

~o0o~

That night, red eyes, dark rooms, and the sound of metal scraping invaded her dreams. In an elevator, in a construction site, everywhere was so _cold-_

Was it a dream or memories? She wanted to believe it was all a dream, just one hellish nightmare that her brain spat out. But believing that is like denying herself - these were all too familiar to her.

And so, she suffered.

No matter how much strain came from looking at mister and seeing...a _monster_ , no matter how little sleep she gained from the fear of seeing it all again; she told herself to smile and act as if nothing was wrong. All a dream, it's all fake, there's nothing wrong with her.

Nothing wrong with _him_.

~o0o~

"Mister," Yuna said, shoving aside the image of him mocking them, handing him the plates. He nodded at her, taking them and shoving them under the soap bubbles in the sink. Regis huffed behind her, saying the same lines over and over;

"There's no need to do that," but Yuna _insisted_ , a little more forcefully today. It took everyone by shock, especially Regis, who backed down.

"Just this once," Regis allowed, as gracefully as he could. Yuna had beamed at him.

(She couldn't believe she'd forgotten such an important sacrifice they'd made; how bloody and broken they'd gotten to protect her and Ikhan and Shinwoo and Suyi. That made up for anything mister had put them through, honestly. Maybe she wouldn't _forgive_ just yet, but she refused to hold a grudge against him.)

~o0o~

It's hard to come to terms with the idea none of them were human - in some cases, _no longer human_ , but she tried her best to act as normal as possible.

It's weird to remember looking into Regis's eyes and _forgetting_ about it all. The warm flood that ran down her, and they had all been returned home in a daze, the chairman looking almost apologetic at all of them.

As she managed to understand - _finally_ \- that vampires and modified humans existed, she wondered about the rest. Demons? Werewolves? Witches? How many of the legends were true?

"Vampires would hate Korea," Shinwoo said suddenly one day, as he shovelled ramyeon into his mouth. They were all seated at the dining table, and Yuna did her best not to flinch, gaze darting over to mister.

"Why is that?" Tao asked.

"We all eat kimchi," Shinwoo explained. "Which has garlic in it, so..." He waved his chopsticks around at all of them, "they wouldn't be able to use a train."

"They could block their nose," Ikhan offered.

"That'd look stupid," Shinwoo scoffed. "Vampires are all about the _aesthetic_."

"Dracula might struggle to hold special occasions as a count if he couldn't eat garlic," Ikhan pondered. "What if garlic bread's being served?"

"Garlic bread isn't classy enough," Regis said, taking a bite of kimchi. Yuna thought about how weird it was to have a vampire eating garlic and discussing it with two humans.

"What if it's just garlic by itself, that vampires can't eat?" Yuna asked.

Ikhan snapped his fingers. "Raw garlic."

Tao laughed. "That explains the garlic necklaces."

~o0o~

"Yuna." when Rai said her name she froze, turning to face him. He sat in the armchair, watching her carefully.

"Yes?"

His gaze drifted over to Shinwoo and the others, who looked between the two, concerned.

"Stay behind for a little while." Everyone was still, looking at them; Yuna shifted uncomfortably.

"Okay," she agreed. This was Rai, after all. She sat back down on the couch, hearing the others all leave. Regis and Seira were tidying up, mister and Takeo washing the dishes. As if to avoid the predicted tension, Tao jumped up and headed to the kitchen to lend a hand.

"Yuna." Rai had set down his teacup and stared straight at her. She froze, her gaze locked to his; has he found out she remembers? "Forget the events," he spoke so softly she nearly missed it, but the shudder that went through her body told her what he wanted.

The familiar warm flood washed over her, but - something inside her yelled _no_ and _pushed_ back. Rai watched her carefully, his expression not giving away anything.

"You've developed a resistance to it," he observed.

"A resistance?" Mister was standing right behind her, and she jumped a foot into the air. Everyone had gathered, the chairman emerging from somewhere else in the house as if he received a silent message to appear.

"A resistance to her memories being wiped?"

"She remembers," is all Rai offered before Tao yelped.

"You-" Tao came around the couch and sat next to her, looking concerned. "You _remember_?"

Yuna hesitated to answer, which seemed to be the response that confirmed it.

"Shit," mister swore, followed by a bunch of expletives in other languages. "How much?"

Even Rai was studying her intensely by this point. Yuna didn't want to answer, not if it hurt _mister_.

"Can you not redo it?" The chairman asked when Yuna didn't respond.

"It may damage her mind," Rai explained. "She's fighting it."

"I don't want to remember," Yuna rushed out.

Rai only looked at her sadly. (Is Yuna lying to herself?)

"So what do we do?" Regis asked. "Convince her to _not_ fight it?"

"So she's subconsciously fighting it," the chairman mused. "How much do of it you remember?"

Yuna hesitated, but now the chairman was asking. "...All of it, I think," she muttered.

"All? Care to tell me exactly?" Frankenstein sat down opposite her. Tao sank back into the couch, one of his hands pulling on his lip in thought. Takeo perched on the armrest next to Tao, mister moving around so he was leaning against a wall, in view of Yuna. Regis and Seira took up positions on either side of Rai.

"W-well..."

"Start from the beginning," Frankenstein said gently.

"Mister and the other man kidnapped me?" She said weakly. Tao looked at mister with a _look_.

"And?" Frankenstein prodded.

"There was that murderer...with the red eyes. Shinwoo fought him, but something called mister and the other man away, and the murderer also left soon after," Yuna said. She hated how soft her voice sounded, how it came so close to cracking. "Um. Rai showed up with Chairman...And there's the time where we - Shinwoo, Ikhan and I ended up in the elevator," she was babbling now, "and the time where Regis and mister fought - Tao was there, too - and..." she trailed off, waiting for them to react.

At first no one said anything, but then Tao whistled low. "That's, like, everything."

"What do you mean, Master? When you say she's fighting it?"

Master? She blinked at that, but then realised Rai's probably...really old, in reality.

"Her heart," Rai said softly.

"My...heart?" Yuna could hazard a guess as to what he meant, but she didn't know if it's actually _that_.

"Indeed," Rai confirmed. Yuna wondered if he knew because be could read her mind, or something. Honestly, at this point she wouldn't be surprised.

"Her heart? The fuck?" Mister growled the words in his throat, confusion apparent in his voice. (She likes his bluntness, she found.)

(Does her remembering change her feelings for him? They haven't yet, so maybe...?)

"Oh, you," Tao said playfully. Takeo frowned, but he seemed to get it.

"Too complicated for you?" Regis taunted.

"Like you're any better, brat."

"No one's going to tell you the answer," Regis informed him loftily as the chairman rubbed the bridge of his nose. Yuna was staring between them, wondering if she really was that transparent.

"It's just not classy to do that," Regis continued.

Mister was definitely growling, like an animal - a wolf? "Yuna?"

Is he asking her to tell him? In front of everyone? Mister may be a lot of things, but surely he wasn't that cruel.

"I'm not saying," she said softly. "Not here." Not like this, she meant.

"Fine." He let it drop, sensing it wasn't the right time to press her for details.

"Well then," Tao cleared his throat. "Let's not over think it."

"I'm more concerned about Yuna's mental health," Frankenstein noted. "If Master doesn't want to risk it - what can we do?"

Yuna immediately thought of falling asleep in mister's arms, blushing as she did so. Tao gave her a knowing look, Takeo giving Tao a quizzical look. Regis and Seira seemed to detach from the conversation, wandering off to their respective chores.

"Let's sleep on this, and see what we can come up with," Frankenstein decided. "It's late and a school night. Yuna should be heading off home."

"Hey," Tao said to mister, "walk her home, yeah?"

Mister glared. "Why?"

Tao blinked at him. "To be nice."

Mister grumbled, but he still left with her.

They walked in silence, side by side. Mister went out of his way to walk beside the road, so she wouldn't be next to the traffic. When Yuna realised this, her face burned.

Even if mister didn't look at her, she stole glances at him, admiring his profile. His hair must be soft, she wondered, a little too dreamily about a guy who kidnapped her.

"Is there something on my face?" Mister asked.

"No," Yuna said quickly.

"Then why do you keep looking at me?"

"Um. I was just wondering if your hair...would be soft?" That was practically a confession on her part, but thankfully he didn't seem to notice.

"Don't know." He shot a look at her, and she liked the way his eyes caught the light.

"Can I touch it?"

A beat of silence. "Sure."

They stopped, Yuna already reaching to brush his hair lightly before she lost her courage. It was soft, just as she thought, and her hand dropped when he closed his eyes. Was he uncomfortable?

"Well?" Mister's eyes were open and staring straight at her.

"It's soft," she confirmed, and they resumed walking.

~o0o~

"He...walked you home? And let you touch his hair?"

"Yup," Yuna said cheerfully. She didn't mention anything about the memories.

"Rai...knows that you like mister? And set you two up?" Suyi sounded excited.

"It was more Tao," Yuna admitted. "But yeah, I suppose."

"I hope it goes well for you, then." Suyi was ending the conversation as the others approached.

"I hope so too."

* * *

 **Notes;**

 **This is from Yuna's POV so she'll be referring to them as the names she knows them by; so M-21 is 'mister' to her, and Frankenstein is 'the chairman'. (Those are the main changes I suppose)**

 **I say one shot but this is probably going to be expanded in a series of one shots. Either with the rest of the gang remembering or more Yuna/m-21 bc apparently I like that shit hvdadhvsa**

 **I do know this is REALLY unlikely to ever be canon, but fuck, don't you think their situation calls for a bunch of amnesia fics.**

 **This felt like an elaborate setup just to have them walk together tbh**

 **A good place to end? I don't know her.**

 **I had more to say but idk what else. I forget. Questions? Just ask them. :3c**


End file.
